They're also so much further ahead on dimensions like performance, battery life, build quality, camera, apps, etc. Those things are so important, I think they're similar to "being first"
And while I'll concede that things like their cameras are great, the only reason certain things like performance and battery life are what they are is because they control iOS AND all of the hardware running it. And app development on iOS has just as many pros and cons as developing for Android, I don't think it fair to label one as better in that regard.
1.) potentially performance (as I'm not familiar with the true technical benchmarks of something like the A9 chip vs the latst Snapdragon, Exynos, etc)
2.) Apps - only if you include true "tablet" apps as well, as Android has done a terrible job with their tablet apps (basically glorified phone apps for the most part).
Examples:
- Split view and side view on the ipad - Siri enhancements that copied Cortana functionality - Detachable keyboard for the ipad - Pen for the ipad
And those are just the ones of the top of my head, I'm sure there are others.
Where they used to be first to market with their stuff, they're now waiting and copying competitors instead and its getting really obvious.
Yes, those Apple things were first shown on an iPhone. It doesn't means that those technologies were first shown on the iPhone